{"id":5374,"date":"2019-04-11T08:24:54","date_gmt":"2019-04-11T08:24:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/simplyhealth.io\/?p=5374"},"modified":"2021-06-02T10:14:45","modified_gmt":"2021-06-02T10:14:45","slug":"14-symptoms-of-rheumatic-fever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/simplyhealth.io\/14-symptoms-of-rheumatic-fever\/","title":{"rendered":"14 Symptoms of Rheumatic Fever"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Rheumatic fever is very uncommon, but when it does occur it can be a pretty miserable experience for the person affected, to say the least. The complication usually develops following a bacterial throat infection.
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The implications of rheumatic fever can be fairly mild all the way through to potentially life-threatening. At the milder end of the scale, patients might expect to experience painful joints, whereas at the more serious end of the spectrum they could be looking at heart problems.
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Fortunately, most people make a full recovery from rheumatic fever, when it is diagnosed accurately and treated effectively, however it does have the annoying habit of coming back again further down the line. The symptoms associated with rheumatic fever range from the annoying and the unpleasant like nosebleeds and fatigue, right through to those that have the potential for hospitalization, like chest pains or heart palpitations. Here are some explanations of the symptoms of rheumatic fever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1.  Small, painless nodules under the skin<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The symptoms of rheumatic fever, like these small painless nodules<\/a>, as a general rule, usually pass through a person\u2019s system within the time frame of anything from a couple of weeks up to a few months. Rarely do symptoms linger for more than a year, but there have been odd cases of rheumatic fever where the symptoms have been experienced for as long as two years. Clearly, the length of time that symptoms persist for is completely variable from one person to the next, and this is also true of the nodules. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thankfully, however, it is practically unheard of for the symptoms of this complication to remain long term and become permanent. Nodules under the skin are a relatively uncommon symptom of rheumatic fever, and often they are misidentified as swollen or raised glands beneath the skin instead. The fact that these nodules are painless makes them more of an annoyance than a great cause for concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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2.   Chest pain<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Chest pain<\/a> is a more worrying symptom that can occur as a result of rheumatic fever. Patients must monitor any chest pains carefully and the best advice is always to seek medical attention for any unusual chest pain. The difficult thing here is, that after having had to endure a bacterial throat infection, which is one of the main causes of rheumatic fever, a person might assume that the infection has simply spread to their chest and that they are merely feeling this as chest pain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As with any illness, condition or complication that has the potential to cause chest pain, rheumatic fever is responsible for causing a lot of panic for a lot of people. Usually, with treatment, the chest pain caused by rheumatic fever is not too much to worry about and can be treated effectively and quickly by a doctor. This said it is always best to hope for the best, whilst planning for the worst, just in case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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3.  Rapid fluttering or pounding chest palpitations<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Palpitations <\/a>can make a person feel as though their heart is beating either too quickly, or too hard. The sensation can feel like a fluttering or as though the heart is skipping a beat. The feeling may be registered by a person in their chest, throat or neck, depending on the individual, and although they can be a bothersome symptom of rheumatic fever, they are not usually a cause for great concern, nor are they particularly harmful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thankfully, they often go away on their own. Whilst rheumatic fever can without question cause palpitations, it is true that there are plenty of other contributing factors which may be to blame instead. Feeling stressed or anxious can bring them on. The consumption of too much alcohol or caffeine could also be responsible for palpitations. Pregnant women experience a fluttering sensation every now and then and only if the palpitations are accompanied by things like shortness of breath, dizzy spells and chest pain should someone seek emergency advice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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4.   Lethargy or fatigue<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This can be one of the earliest symptoms that a person may experience with rheumatic fever, with lethargy <\/a>kicking in a good while before other symptoms start to develop. A person struggling with rheumatic fever could end up feeling low and even depressed, due to the huge change in their energy levels, drive, and motivation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remaining in employment or continuing to take an active role in society can become virtually impossible, as the desire to do these everyday activities is outweighed by an overwhelming and powerful sense of fatigue. Remaining in bed for a few days at a time is not uncommon for people feeling this lethargy and fatigue whilst recovering from rheumatic fever. This can work in two ways. Either the bed rest is just what the doctor ordered, and the person emerges like a butterfly from a chrysalis a few days later, or the room becomes a mental prison, making the endurance of the illness ever more complicated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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5.   Nosebleeds<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

For some people suffering from rheumatic fever, nosebleeds<\/a> can be a regular occurrence, making everyday life particularly inconvenient. Whilst it is certainly possible for nosebleeds to be caused as a direct result of the fever, it is a fairly rare symptom, meaning that the sheer variety of potential nosebleed causes need to be examined and understood, in order to determine whether or not It has been caused by rheumatic fever. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When a person suffers a nosebleed, the inner lining of the nose becomes damaged. More specifically, the many tiny blood vessels that are close to the surface become damaged, and subsequently, they bleed. In order to establish if rheumatic fever is the cause of the nosebleed, the following typical nosebleed causes need to be ruled out. These include acute sinusitis, aspirin use, bleeding disorders, blood thinners, chemical irritants, cocaine use, the common cold, foreign body in the nose, trauma, and overuse of nasal sprays.
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6.  Stomach pain<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Abdominal manifestations and episodes of stomach pain, experienced through rheumatic fever<\/a>, have been known about for almost two centuries. These stomach pains symptoms were first brought to the attention of medical professionals in 1839, where they noticed the complication in people who had previously been suffering from other more easily identifiable symptoms of rheumatic fever, such as joint pain or fatigue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Signs and indicators of the symptoms were first found by the French, who noticed irritation of the stomach wall within a patient’s suffering from rheumatic fever. This irritation would have been in no small way responsible for the stomach pains. Interestingly it is understood that the stomach pain attacks usually occur at the onset of rheumatic fever, and persist until the arthritic type symptoms come along. In serious cases of the fever, these two symptoms can jostle for superiority and relevance, rarely seeming to occur at the exact same time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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7.  Painful or sore joints in the wrists, elbows, knees, and ankles<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Experiencing pain in the joints <\/a>at various sites of the body can have wide-ranging and complex implications for a patient. Where the wrists are concerned, painful and sore movements can mean that patients are unable to do things such as write with a pen, type on a keyboard, manipulate buttons and drive vehicles safely. When the pain is felt in the elbow, this can make everyday activities such as getting dressed or undressed difficult. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Likewise, washing the pots, preparing dinner and walking the dog can become almost impossible for a person to do without wincing in pain. When the pain manifests itself in the knees and ankles, even moving around from place to place becomes too painful to bear. Sports and recreational activities, from hiking through to soccer become unbearable for a person to take part in and no matter their usual level of physical activity, rheumatic fever, and its associated painful joints has the capability to really knock someone off-kilter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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8.  Pain in one joint that moves to another joint<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As if experiencing pain in one joint wasn’t bad enough, one particularly infuriating symptom of rheumatic fever is found with this example, where pain can take on a domino-like effect, setting off the pain in other joints like a chain reaction. It is not unfeasible that a person suffering from rheumatic arthritis might end up experiencing ankle <\/a>pain, having previously felt pain in their knee, and then before that in their hip. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This linear progression is difficult to manage, but at least it is predictable. In another manifestation of this symptom, the movement of the pain can be sporadic and seemingly random, following no predictable pattern at all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One minute a patient could be complaining about shoulder pain, only to feel the most noticeable pain emerge in their ankle just moments later. The blessing here is that rheumatic fever doesn\u2019t tend to last very long, or at least the symptoms don\u2019t, as a person experiencing this type of symptom for too long would be tested mentally and psychologically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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9. Strep Throat
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Strep throat<\/a> occurs due to infection with the group A Streptococcus bacterium. This pathogen causes severe inflammation in the tissues of the throat, resulting in symptoms of pain when breathing or trying to swallow.
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Strep throat infections occur in different levels of intensity depending on the type of bacteria responsible for the disease, as well as the health of the infected person\u2019s immune system. Since the condition is most common in children between the ages of 5 and 15, anyone over this age may take it as a possible sign of rheumatic fever.
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Infection with Streptococcus bacterium is typically the leading cause for a flare-up of rheumatic fever. As soon as you notice signs of a sore throat, get a mirror and check the back of your throat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ll notice that the back of the throat appears red and swollen.
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As the bacteria spreads, it starts to produce a film of white scum on the back of your throat as well. Should your symptoms of a sore throat fail to clear up after a few days, you may have strep throat.  As soon as you notice the white mucus appears, head for the doctor\u2019s office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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10. Low-Grade Fever
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Infection with the group A Streptococcus bacterium may produce a low-grade fever. Fevers occur when the brain detects invading bacteria. As a result, it signals for the creation of antibodies and white blood cells to fight off the infection.
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At the same time, the brain instructs the hypothalamus to signal for the release of pyrogen proteins. These proteins bind to the ends of nerves, telling the nervous system to increase the setpoint temperature.
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The fever symptoms associated with the infection are mild, and most doctors will not use medication to break the fever as it\u2019s the body\u2019s natural response to eliminating the bacteria. Only if the infection encounters complications that cause it to escalate to dangerous levels, a doctor then considers intervening and looking at a new diagnosis.
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The patient may notice that their symptoms of pain escalate as the fever comes on, which is the reason why it gained the moniker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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11. Rash<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Patients with rheumatic fever may also develop a rash. It\u2019s for this reason that many people may confuse RF with a roseola infection. Roseola bacteria cause the development of a scaly rash on the skin.
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However, patients that experience a rash from RF, typically experience a splotchy red rash under the skin. The skin disorder does not present any itching symptoms, and the patient does not need to treat the rash with any topical lotions or creams. After the infection clears, the rash subsides on its own without medical intervention. Should the patient feel mild itching symptoms, they can relieve the itching with OTC medications such as Tylenol or Advil.
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However, in some cases, the patient may experience a rapid increase in the surface coverage of the rash, along with severe pain symptoms. Should this occur along with a tightening and itchiness of the throat, the patient should seek medical attention immediately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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12. Nervous System Inflammation
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The group A Streptococcus bacterium<\/a> responsible for strep throat may also migrate from the throat to tissues and organs in the local region. As a result, the bacteria may infect the nerves around the base of the skull, resulting in the development of nervous system inflammation.
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When the bacteria infect the nervous system, it results in a condition known as, \u201cSydenham’s chorea,\u201d producing symptoms of involuntary jerking in the elbows, knees, ankles, and wrists. Some patients may find that they experience uncontrollable bouts of laughter, or they might break down and cry without any reason.
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Other symptoms of Sydenham’s chorea include difficulty controlling the fine motor skills of the hands, which may lead to an infected patient being unable to sign their name in the usual manner. The patient may also experience problems with balance, as well as involuntary twitching movements in the face or digits. There is currently no treatment available for Sydenham’s chorea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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13. Hormone Imbalance
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Infection with group A Streptococcus bacterium may cause issues with the emotional and mental health of the patient. Should the disease reach the nervous system, it may cause dysfunction in neurotransmitter production and function.
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The neurotransmitter serotonin <\/a>is responsible for feelings of elation, and it\u2019s a vital neurotransmitter for regulating mood. When group A Streptococcus bacterium infection begins to infect the cluster of nerves at the base of the skull, it may result in disruptions in serotonin production, leading to a bad mood and feelings of irritability.
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Likewise, group A Streptococcus bacterium may also affect neurological control over the hormone system, causing hormone imbalances in estrogen and progesterone that may lead to feelings of moodiness.
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Doctors tend to avoid treating these types of symptoms with medication. The patient will eventually return to a healthy state of mind after the infection clears. The disease also leaves no lasting damage to the hormone or endocrine system.
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14. Cardiovascular Complications
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Patients dealing with RF can have symptoms of inflammation <\/a>and pain hang around for months. As a result, they run the risk of developing complications to the disease. Rheumatic heart disease, (RHD,) is one of the more common and most severe complications related to RF.
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RHD affects more than 15-million people all over the globe, and it’s responsible for the deaths of more than 230,00 people every year. RHD causes permanent damage to the mitral valve between the upper and lower chambers on the left side.
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If left undiagnosed and untreated, RHD inflammation may result in valvular stenosis, where the valve narrows – producing a reduction in circulation. Another common symptom of the condition is valvular regurgitation, where the patient experiences blood flow in the wrong direction due to a leaky valve.
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The inflammation may eventually reach a stage where the heart cannot pump properly, resulting in the onset of congestive heart failure and death of the patient.
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